In a recent e-mail newsletter Harry Browne made an interesting historical point about the US Pledge of Allegiance:
“Returning to the Pledge of Allegiance, it was composed in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (link requires registration) a socialist, specifically to help young children become good little citizens of the Fatherland.
The idea that our children should be pledging allegiance to government smacks of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union — the very antitheses of what America was meant to be.”
I grew up reciting the Pledge every single morning of my life for thirteen years… and until this day never knew its’ history. You just assumed you were taking part in a tradition that went back to the founding of the Republic. You pictured young Abe and his school mates reverently reciting it in their one room red school house.
At the time when the Pledge was written the American social elite were having a love affair with all things Prussian. The efficiency of German State planning was all the rage before the turn of the previous century.
I somehow don’t think this is quite the message those of the conservative quadrant wish upon their children.
